Just a week into his Major League career, Washington Nationals number one prospect Bryce Harper is making all sorts of noise.
Known for taking some time to adjust when moving up levels of play, no one was surprised when Harper put up a mediocre .250 average in his first few weeks at Triple-A. Yet when Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman went on the DL, general manager Mike Rizzo trusted Harper’s ability and called him up to fill the void in the lineup. Remarkably, in the five games since, Harper has excelled more than ever, hitting .375 with four doubles and sporting a cannon arm in the outfield.
The fact that he has played better in the majors than Triple-A goes to show he excels in pressure filled situations. In other words, Harper is clutch. On top of that, he has shown impressive hustle, running hard on every single hit, even little dribblers back to the pitcher. Despite such a small sample size, it is fair to say Harper looks up to the hype.